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United States Patent | 6,038,331 |
Johnson | March 14, 2000 |
An apparatus and method for monitoring hand washing wherein a subject's hands are checked after he or she has applied soap or detergent and spread it over the front and back of his or her hands. An optical image of the subject's hands is digitized and compared, pixel by pixel, with a reference feature that distinguishes the soap and a report is generated indicating whether the subject's hands are covered with enough soap or detergent to receive a satisfactory report.
Inventors: | Johnson; Raymond C. (337 Penshurst Pl., Chesterfield, MO 63017) |
Appl. No.: | 024494 |
Filed: | February 17, 1998 |
Current U.S. Class: | 382/100; 134/113; 382/173 |
Intern'l Class: | G06K 009/00 |
Field of Search: | 382/100,115,173,180 348/143 4/619,638,661 134/18,56 R,57 R,58 R,113 604/289,290 |
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Foreign Patent Documents | |||
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1-219439 | Sep., 1989 | JP | . |
6-212670 | Aug., 1994 | JP | . |
"Simple Hand Washing Gets New Scrutiny For Disease Control", The Wall Street Journal, Feb. 5, 1996, Chase, p. B1. "Foodservice Sanitation: It's All In The Touch", Maintenance Supplies, Oct. 1996, pp. 64-66. "New UltraClenz Touch-Free Hand Washing System Combats Deadly Food-Borne and Hospital-Acquired Infections," UltraClenz Corporation Press Release, Jul. 17, 1996, from URL: http://www.ultraclenz.com/pressrel.htm. Maney, "Bathrooms Flush with Tech Opportunity," USA Today, May 22, 1997, p. 4B. Hygiene Guard description from the Captology website, Stanford University, at URL: http://www-pcd.stanford.edu/captology/resources/cep/catalog/hg.html, printed Nov. 2, 1999. |